That You May Know…

Remember that famous line in the movie Field of Dreams that goes, “If you build it, they will come”? You have no doubt that line was in the movie. However, the line is, “If you build it, he will come.” Or in the classic Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, you just know the Evil Queen said, “Mirror, mirror, on the wall—who is the fairest of them all?” You probably have that memorized. But the line is, “Magic Mirror on the wall, who is the fairest one of all?”

Let’s admit it. There are times we think we know something, but we don’t. We’re positive, but we’re positively wrong. 

The Apostle John wrote his first letter because he wanted us to know something and be positively right about it. Take a look at some of the verses we’ve read:

2:3 – And by this we know that we have come to know him…

2:5 – By this we may know that we are in him…

3:14 – We know that we have passed out of death into life, because…

3:19 – By this we shall know that we are of the truth…

4:13 – By this we know that we abide in him and he in us…

Can you see the trend? John wants his readers to know — he does not want them to hope or wish or try or work for or anything other than to know that they have a relationship with God. God wants his people to know they are God’s children. And in our current passage, 5:6-13, John focuses all his energy on driving this point home.

As we saw last week, in verse 5, John wrote, “Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” Now he describes this Jesus in whom we should believe:

This is he who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. (1 John 5:6)

At first glance, some of us read this verse and scratch our heads in confusion. But John is making an incredible argument about who Jesus is. The “water” refers to the baptism of Jesus, while the “blood” refers to his death on the cross. Remember, the false teachers who had left the church claimed that a heavenly Christ descended on an ordinary man Jesus at his baptism and left just before his death. They denied the deity of Jesus. In verse 6, John is tearing down this belief, because it was Jesus Christ, fully God and fully man, who was baptized and crucified. He was the God-man before his baptism, and he’s still the God-man after his crucifixion. The Christ didn’t descend on Jesus at the baptism. But someone did — the Holy Spirit (John 1:32-34).

For there are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree. (1 John 5:7-8)

John says that three witnesses testify who Jesus truly is – his baptism, his death, and the Holy Spirit. They are in perfect agreement. 

If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has borne concerning his Son. (1 John 5:9)

John is leading up to another testimony that God gives, but before he tells us what it is, John reminds us that it is God himself who is making this truth known. This is God the Father’s personal testimony, and we can’t ignore it.

Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son. (1 John 5:10)

Here’s John’s train of thought: God the Father is giving testimony about his Son. Anyone who believes what God says about the Son is, by definition, accepting God’s testimony. On the other hand, anyone who rejects God’s testimony is accusing God of being a liar. 

Further, John says that the only way anyone can come to believe the truth about Jesus is by having “the testimony in himself.” In other words, it can only be the work of the Holy Spirit that will bring anyone to accept the truth about Jesus. Without this work of the Spirit, no person can believe.

John finally tells us the testimony God gives:

And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. (1 John 5:11-12)

God testifies to us that his Son, Jesus Christ, is the way that we can receive the gift of eternal life. Jesus is the only way. There is no other way. There is no other god, no other belief system, no amount of doing good things or avoiding bad things, no amount of praying or serving or burning incense or reciting the Lord’s Prayer or John 3:16 — there is nothing at all anyone can do to obtain eternal life. We simply can’t earn it.

Eternal life isn’t earned, it’s a gift, “God gave us eternal life.” And there’s only one way to accept this gift — through Jesus. John had heard Jesus say the very same thing:

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)

Eternal life can only come by us believing in Jesus as God the Son. It’s a gift of God to those who believe in the Son. Anyone who rejects the Son also rejects the gift of eternal life with God. If you don’t believe that Jesus is God the Son, then God is not your Father.

And now John writes his purpose statement for this letter. If his readers get only one thing from reading the letter, it’s this:

I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. (1 John 5:13)

That you may know. 

Those who believe in Jesus Christ not only receive eternal life — they can know they have eternal life. If you have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, if you’ve admitted to him that you have sinned, believed that he died on the cross to pay for your sins and then rose on the third day, if you’ve given your life to him and accepted the forgiveness he offers you, then you are a child of God and will be forever. You’re going to be with God forever. Period. This isn’t something you hope will happen, you can know it. You have his promise, and you have the Holy Spirit working in your heart to assure you. You didn’t earn it, and you can’t lose it. How could you possibly lose it if John says you can know you have it?

The truth is that you can know that death is not the end for you. Death will be the beginning of life in heaven. John also heard Jesus say these words: 

“I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.” (John 11:25b-26a)

When Jesus died, he paid for your sins. When he rose, he conquered death, for himself and you. 

I’ve spoken at a lot of funerals. I’ve spoken with loved ones who knew they would see their loved one again, and I’ve spoken to those who had no hope.  

I’ve sat at the kitchen table of a man on a Friday after the doctors sent him home, telling him that he wouldn’t live through the weekend. He looked at me and said, “I’m a little scared.” But then he smiled and said, “But I’m only a day or two away from meeting Jesus face to face.” And before that weekend was over, he did meet Jesus face to face. 

This man had eternal life and he knew it. You can know it, too. If you’ve accepted Christ, you have eternal life. Even in times when you doubt, you still have it. You don’t have to wonder about it. You don’t have to hope for it. You can know it. You have a forever relationship with God that is as certain as he is true, and God is always true.

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